Tag: recruiting grades

2016 Recruiting Grade: Wide Receiver

Ahmir Mitchell (#2)

Previously: Quarterbacks, Running Backs

WIDE RECEIVERS (5):
Kekoa Crawford – Rancho Santa Margarita (CA) Catholic: 4-star, #19 WR, #119 overall
Brad Hawkins, Jr. – Camden (NJ) Camden: 4-star, #54 WR, #291 overall
Nate Johnson – Thompson’s Station (TN) Independence: 3-star, #94 WR, #589 overall
Eddie McDoom – Winter Garden (FL) West Orange: 3-star, #64 WR, #405 overall
Ahmir Mitchell – Egg Harbor City (NJ) Cedar Creek: 4-star, #9 ATH, #166 overall

Hit the jump for the rundown on Michigan’s 2016 recruiting efforts at the wide receiver position.

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2016 Recruiting Grade: Running Back

Kareem Walker (image via Maxpreps)

Previously: Quarterbacks

RUNNING BACKS (3):
Kingston Davis – Prattville (AL) Prattville: 3-star, #1 FB, #739 overall
Chris Evans – Indianapolis (IN) Ben Davis: 4-star, #9 APB, #332 overall
Kareem Walker – Wayne (NJ) DePaul Catholic: 4-star, #4 RB, #100 overall

Hit the jump for the rundown on Michigan’s 2016 recruiting efforts at the running back position.

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Recruiting Grade: Quarterback

Brandon Peters

QUARTERBACKS (1): Brandon Peters – Avon (IN) Avon
Commits: Peters is a 6’4″, 209 lb. prospect who was hand-picked Jim Harbaugh. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #6 pro-style QB, and #61 overall. He participated in last year’s Elite 11 competition, and he was a U.S. Army All-American. Peters had a very good season for Avon, but he struggled at the Elite 11 and in the U.S. Army bowl. One explanation for his struggles is that he did not have a personal quarterback coach in high school, something a lot of high school QBs have these days. Still, he struggled at times with his mechanics and he does not go through his progressions as quickly as one might hope. He has good physical tools, but he is not college-ready at this point.

Biggest miss: K.J. Costello – Rancho Santa Margarita (CA) Catholic. Costello was reportedly close to committing to Michigan during the summer of 2014 when he visited during Brady Hoke’s tenure. Instead, Hoke took a commitment from Trotwood (OH) Trotwood-Madison’s Messiah DeWeaver, someone whom Jim Harbaugh parted ways with shortly after being hired. Costello – a teammate of Michigan wide receiver signee Dylan Crawford – would go on to sign with Stanford, while DeWeaver signed with Michigan State. Costello outperformed Peters at the Elite 11 and at the Army bowl.

Decommits: Messiah DeWeaver was the first QB to decommit. Then when Michigan set up its Summer Swarm Tour and ended up in California, the coaching staff happened upon Norco (CA) Norco athlete Victor Viramontes, a quarterback/linebacker. They offered him and he committed to Michigan shortly thereafter, without ever having seen campus. He would visit in the fall, but he decommitted in December, reportedly because someone had planted in his head that he would not get a chance to play QB for Michigan. While Viramontes has the size and athleticism to play H-back, linebacker, or maybe strong safety in college, he wants to be a quarterback. He was rumored to be silently committed to Michigan leading up to National Signing Day, but Michigan did not have enough room in the recruiting class and did not send him a National Letter of Intent to sign; he picked the Cal Bears.

Other QB offers:
K.J. Costello (Stanford)
Messiah DeWeaver (Michigan State)
Jacob Eason (Georgia)
Dwayne Haskins (Ohio State)
Shea Patterson (Ole Miss)
Victor Viramontes (Cal)

Grade: A-. I think there were better options at quarterback than Peters, but Harbaugh seems to like Peters, so I can accept that based on Harbaugh’s track record. Historically, Harbaugh seems to like to bring in two quarterbacks per class (one true QB and one more athletic QB), so losing Viramontes was a bit of a blow. I didn’t foresee Viramontes winning the job full-time, but he could have been a guy who could play QB in certain packages or someone who could have helped out at a few other positions.

2015 Recruiting Grades: Defense, Special Teams

Tyree Kinnel

I posted the recruiting grades for the offensive side of the ball (LINK), so here are the grades for the defense. Rankings used are from the 247 Composite.

DEFENSIVE END
Lost from 2014: Brennen Beyer (graduation), Frank Clark (suspension/graduation)
Commits: Shelton Johnson, Reuben Jones
Grade: B+
Comments: Michigan didn’t land the highest value targets, and the two guys they brought in were last-minute fixes who don’t provide a huge speed rush that Michigan has been lacking in recent years. But Michigan does need numbers at the position, where the graduations of Beyer and Clark left the team with few viable replacements and a couple guys who perhaps should be playing defensive tackle instead of on the edge. Johnson (3-star, #20 SDE) has some high upside and Jones (3-star, #44 DE) has potential, too, so at least one of these guys should pay dividends sooner or later.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Lost from 2014: None
Commits: None
Grade: C
Comments: Neither coaching staff deemed defensive tackle as a priority. Hoke only offered a handful of guys and actually backed off several targets last summer, and Harbaugh hardly made an attempt aside from offering defensive tackle Kendrick Norton, who never visited. Michigan is in a situation where they have a lot of guys in their middle years of football, but they will need to renew their efforts in 2016 to avoid a huge age gap.

LINEBACKER
Lost from 2014: Michael Ferns III (transfer), Jake Ryan (graduation)
Commits: None
Grade: D
Comments: Jake Ryan was a Butkus Award finalist and a stud at middle linebacker for Michigan last season, but the Wolverines should not miss him too awfully much with four senior linebackers scheduled to be on the roster in 2015 (Joe Bolden, Royce Jenkins-Stone, Desmond Morgan, James Ross). However, the only non-senior to have played much so far is junior Ben Gedeon, which means Michigan will be searching for answers in 2016. It would have been a good idea to land at least one guy to redshirt and adjust to the college game, because that guy could have been deployed in 2016. Assuming the five aforementioned guys suck up most of the playing time in 2015, the Wolverines will be very green in 2016.

CORNERBACK
Lost from 2014: Delonte Hollowell (graduation), Raymon Taylor (graduation)
Commits: Keith Washington
Grade: C-
Comments: Much like the running back position, Michigan had two highly touted guys committed at different junctures – Shaun Crawford (Notre Dame) and Garrett Taylor (Penn State) – and both of them slipped out of their grasp. Cornerback is a spot where guys can contribute early, but with Jabrill Peppers moving to safety, the Wolverines are very thin at the position. Washington (3-star, #77 ATH) was a high school quarterback who did not play a ton of defense, so he’s a project. If anyone higher in the pecking order gets hurt, the Wolverines could be in serious trouble, although Peppers has the ability to move back to corner if necessary.

SAFETY
Lost from 2014: None
Commits: Tyree Kinnel
Grade: A-
Comments: I don’t see Kinnel (4-star, #11 S)as a huge playmaker in college, but he’s a good field general with some respectable athletic skills. The only safety scheduled to depart after 2015 is starter Jarrod Wilson, and most of the other safeties on the roster are good athletes without a great understanding for the game. So if new safeties coach Greg Jackson can coach those guys up, Michigan should be in very good shape here.

KICKER/PUNTER
Lost from 2014: Will Hagerup (graduation), Matt Wile (graduation)
Commits: Andrew David
Grade: A
Comments: Punter is a position that can often be filled by walk-ons, which is likely what will happen in 2015 with Kenny Allen expected to take over the punting job. With no walk-on kickers daring to take the job, Michigan offered one guy and one guy only to be their placekicker, and they got him. David (3-star, #9 K) will be in a situation where he has a special teams coach in John Baxter, which should speed his development at least a little bit. Michigan got exactly whom they wanted.

2015 Recruiting Grades: Offense

Zach Gentry (image via Maxpreps)

With the 2015 class about wrapped up, I’ll offer some final takeaways from the recruiting cycle. With something like this, it’s difficult to separate Brady Hoke’s recruiting efforts through early December from Jim Harbaugh’s efforts over the last five weeks of the cycle. So the grades and feedback I provide are geared toward the program’s job of recruiting, not necessarily a specific coach.

Starters are listed in italics.

QUARTERBACK
Lost from 2014: Russell Bellomy (transfer), Devin Gardner (graduation)
Commits: Zach Gentry, Alex Malzone
Grade: A-
Comments: Michigan needed to add talent and numbers to the quarterback position to engender competition, and they did that. Gentry (#8 pro-style quarterback, #175 overall) is the raw talent at 6’7″, 230 lbs. with a reported 4.6 forty and a strong arm. Malzone (#13 pro-style quarterback, #295 overall) is the local field general with good skills all around but nothing that really stands out. Other than getting a truly elite prospect, Michigan did about as well as they could. Toss in the possible arrival of Houston transfer John O’Korn, and all these guys won’t finish their careers at Michigan, but at least one should emerge looking good.

RUNNING BACK
Lost from 2014: Justice Hayes (transfer)
Commit: Karan Higdon
Grade: C
Comments: The unfortunate thing here is that Michigan had two top-150 running back talents committed at different times, and the Wolverines let both of them slip through their fingers. The first one, Damien Harris, ended up signing with Alabama. The second one, Mike Weber, was darn close to flipping from Ohio State to Michigan at the last minute, but he ultimately stuck with the Buckeyes around 10:30 a.m. because Higdon had committed to Michigan at 8:00 a.m. Michigan stole Higdon (#40 running back, #479 overall) himself at the last minute from Iowa, so there’s something to be said for getting someone on the board, at least. Still, this could have looked better.

WIDE RECEIVER
Lost from 2014: Devin Funchess (early NFL draft entrant)
Commits: Brian Cole, Grant Perry
Grade: B+
Comments: Michigan might have hit a home run with Cole (#5 athlete, #75 overall), who was a jack-of-all-trades player in high school and will have to learn the receiver position in college. Perry (#109 wide receiver, #864 overall) is a solid role player plucked from Northwestern at the last minute. Otherwise, both Hoke and Harbaugh swung and missed at the big-timers in the class.

TIGHT END
Lost from 2014: Keith Heitzman (transfer)
Commit: Tyrone Wheatley, Jr.
Grade: B
Comments: Michigan let Chris Clark slip through their fingers, although Clark was wishy-washy and seemed to be all over the place with his recruitment. The Wolverines may have dodged a bullet, because Wheatley – as the son of a coach on staff – might be less likely to flake out if things don’t go smoothly from day one. Wheatley (#12 tight end, #313 overall) has a fair amount of talent himself, although some think he’s better suited for defense. It would have been nice to get two tight ends with Heitzman transferring, A.J. Williams being a senior in 2015, and starter Jake Butt a junior who could possibly go pro if he stays healthy.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Lost from 2014: Kyle Bosch (transfer)
Commits: Grant Newsome, Jon Runyan Jr., Nolan Ulizio
Grade: B
Comments: The offensive line recently went from being “way too young” to being “maybe too old” now that four projected starters will be fifth-year guys (2) or fourth-year guys (2), joined by sophomore left tackle Mason Cole and redshirt junior utility man Erik Magnuson. With a couple backups looking stuck there for a reason, Michigan needed to bring in some fresh talent. Newsome (#22 offensive tackle, #235 overall) is a possible star, whereas Runyan (#122 offensive tackle) and Ulizio (#137 offensive tackle) look like they could be passable players in a few years. This probably isn’t the class that will turn around Michigan’s fortunes immediately, but they’re functional. Michigan essentially ignored a national prospect with high interest (USC-bound Chuma Edoga) and a local, guru-approved guy with high interest (Wisconsin-bound David Moorman), so hopefully they picked the right ones to pursue. If Newsome pans out like I think he should, he’ll make this class look pretty good.